Take me to Albuquerque

(There is no line about Albuquerque in “Get Your Kicks on Route 66, I had to come up with another song”

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Today is Brad’s Birthday. We started the day in Amarillo, TX. We have been pleasantly surprised by the weather. We have had rain daily and it has kept us cool. I hate to write this as I think we are headed for some heat in Albuquerque.

We started the morning with a quick stop at the Cadillac Ranch just west of Amarillo. The Cadillac Ranch is famous for the cars (Cadillacs) that are buried on the property. People have graffitied the cars and road in front of the cars. It is very colorful as you drive down the road for about a quarter of a mile.

We continued driving toward Tucumcari and into the high desert of New Mexico. The ground is a salmon red color with tan grass and ever- greens dotting the landscape. We could see buttes in the distance.

The morning was uneventful and we had a great run. We briefly stopped in Tucumcari for lunch and then headed toward Albuquerque. The landscape was beautiful the rock formations, the layers of the red rocks with blue sky and white puffy clouds in the background were mesmerizing. It was hard to watch the speed and not gawk at the beauty in front of me.

We finished the morning in Tucumcari. Tucumcari like so many towns on Route 66, had their hay day in the early part of the 20th century. The trains ran through Tucumcari as did The Mother Road. Today it has little commerce and a population of about 5200. It is home to one of the largest ranches in the country.

We left lunch and headed for the Hot Air Balloon Festival Park in Albuquerque. As we sat waiting for the restart after lunch we watched huge trains carrying goods across the desert. We also had another storm come in. The rain came in sheets across the pavement with lightning surrounding us.

We continued to drive on the Historic Route 66 and made our way into the higher elevations outside of Albuquerque. We ran at low speeds through winding roads. We would go between the red cliffs and the black volcanic rocks piled on top of each other.

We came into Albuquerque and the wind was blowing, the storm had mostly passed, but the balloons could not go up with the wind.

While sitting at dinner Allan informed us that our front left tire was bald. We had not had great scores, yet we believed we had run a clean day. The tire may have explained the problem.

Our front end was likely damaged from the hard hit of the submerged pot hole earlier in the week.

Once again our friends came to the rescue and helped us change and realign the tires. We are still not running great, but with any luck will make it to Pasadena.

Thank you Roger Shacket, Jimmy, Barry, Gary, Allan and Brandon! It takes a village.

Brandon and Allan, thank you for picking up new tires for us in Albuquerque. Your help has eased our stress!!!

Go Team Mustang Country!!!